SCIENCE 
——_————= 
Fripay, May 31, 1912 
CONTENTS 
The Building of ‘‘Coral’’ Reefs: Dr. MarR- 
SHALL A. HOWE ......-..---+e0--eee eee 837 
University Control—II: Proressor J. Mc- 
KEEN CATTELL ........0..-02+ esse seers 842 
Scientific Notes and News .......---++-++:- 860 
University and Educational News .........- 863 
Discussion and Correspondence :— 
The White-tailed Deer of Michigan: PRo- 
FESSOR ALEXANDER G. RUTHVEN, NORMAN 
A. Woop. The Flora Brasiliensis: Dr. 
Epw. J. Nouan, OLIvE JONES. An Haperi- 
ment on a Fasting Man: Dr. FRANCIS G. 
TRANGONIGM occ ncagndadenoccoscooannNaKos 863 
Scientific Books :— 
Smith’s The Pines of Australia, Campbell’s 
The Eusporangiatew, Coulter and Chamber- 
lain’s Morphology of Gymnosperms: PRo- 
rEssor E. CO. JEFFREY. Schneider’s Phar- 
maceutical Bacteria: H. W. C. The Amer- 
ican Yearbook: JOHN RITCHIE, JR. ....... 865 
Notes on Meteorology and Climatology: AN- 
DREW H, PALMER ......-..-+--2++eeeees 870 
Special Articles :-— 
The Origin of Erythrocytes by a Process 
of Constriction or Budding: Dr. V. E. 
EMMEL. On the Appearance of Albino Mu- 
tants in Litters of the Common Norway 
THES fst; IEUNWA Soo aghodatodcsocdoeceoGar 873 
Societies and Academies :-— 
The American Mathematical Society: Pro- 
FESSOR BY. N. COLE -...-..55---------0- 00 876 
MSS. intended for publication and books, etc., intended for 
review should be sent to the Editor of SclENCE, Garrison-on- 
Hudson, N. Y. 
THE BUILDING OF ‘‘CORAL’’ REEFS 
A coral reef is a ridge or mound of limestone, 
the upper surface of which lies or lay at the time 
of its formation, near the level of the sea, and is 
predominantly composed of calcium carbonate 
secreted by organisms, of which the most impor- 
tant are corals. 
THE above is the opening sentence of an 
able and suggestive paper by Dr. Thomas 
Wayland Vaughan on ‘‘Physical Condi- 
tions under which Paleozoic Coral Reefs 
were formed,’’ published last year in the 
Bulletin of the Geological Society-of Amer- 
ica.: If we pass over for the moment the 
question as to just what is meant by ‘“‘near 
the level of the sea,’’ a point that is dis- 
cussed by Dr. Vaughan later on, the part of 
the above definition that particularly chal- 
lenges attention is the final clause, ‘‘of 
which the most important are corals.’’ It 
is not to be denied that this last statement 
embodies the long-standing and still prev- 
alent view as to the origin and composition 
of coral reefs and, in fact, it might seem at 
first sight to be quite axiomatic that corals 
should be the most important constructive 
agents in the formation of ‘‘coral’’ reefs. 
But in view of the fact that some rather 
recent studies indicate that’.lime-secreting 
plants have been much more important 
than the corals in the formation of certain 
“‘true coral reefs ’’ and in view of the few 
borings and analytical studies of so-called 
“¢ eoral’’ reefs thus far made, there would 
seem to be sufficient ground for contending 
that the whole question as to the relative 
general importance of lime-secreting ani- 
mals and lime-secreting plants in the form- 
ation of reefs is still an open one. From 
1Vol. 22, p. 238. 
